A FREEWHEELING CONVERSATION BETWEEN JAVED AKHTAR AND NASREEN MUNNI KABIR, THE BOOK PROVIDES FASCINATING INSIGHTS INTO THE LIFE AND MIND OF A MAN WHOSE WORK CONTINUES TO TOUCH MILLIONS. Akhtar speaks with refreshing honesty about the ups and downs of his extraordinary life—from his early childhood in Lucknow to his struggles in the sixties as an aspiring writer trying to break into the film industry, to his later years as husband, father, and hugely successful song writer and poet. He reflects on the friendships and collaborations that were the highlights of his personal and professional life, and the inescapable disappointments. He relives the battle he waged on behalf of lyricists and music composers in Parliament, the intense internal struggle to overcome the difficulties that built up in the wake of fame and money, and the many strands that wove through his relentless pursuit of excellence. Candid and wide-ranging, Talking Life is an unputdownable read packed with stories and anecdotes from film history. About the Authors Javed Akhtar is the co-writer of many leading Hindi films of the 1970s, including Zanjeer, Deewar and Sholay. He has won numerous awards for his screenplays and song lyrics. Several volumes of his poetry have been published in Urdu and in translation into several languages, including English and French. An accomplished speaker, he has been invited to lecture at various universities and literature festivals across the world. He is also a leading cultural commentator whose wit and intellect have won him legions of fans. Nasreen Munni Kabir has made over a hundred documentaries on Hindi cinema and written over twenty books on the subject. She has subtitled over 800 films from Hindi to English. She has been instrumental in introducing Hindi cinema to wider audiences in the UK and in Paris since the 1980s. Continuing to curate Channel 4’s annual Indian film season, Nasreen has served as a governor on the board of the British Film Institute (2000–2006). Working between London and Mumbai, she has documented and archived Hindi film history through her books and TV programmes for over forty years.